RM22 for one CNY-sized bottle of tempeh chips, which I personally feel is an absolutely DIABOLICAL price.
My very health-conscious aunt passed me a bottle of these chips over my gate. “Eh, you eat chips one ah? I thought you very healthy one." is what I said to her.
She replied “Have you tried tempeh chips before? It's nice and very healthy!” - which honestly at first thought made me think; tempeh chips are still fried, so how healthy can they actually be.
Over the years, humans now have more access to information at ther fingertips from various internet sources - we've started to realise that whatever lifestyle we have now is generally pretty unhealthy, but we don't want to give up the good things we currently have. So instead of cutting down, we look towards ‘healthifying’ the things we enjoy.
That includes the tempeh chips boost - tempeh was once only available in full dishes in restaurants as a plant-based alternative, but now can be found as chips in various flavours, on the highly-coveted gondola end placements of the snack section in supermarkets, especially ‘premium’ ones.
In perception, tempeh chips are often perceived (and marketed) as the healthier option compared to the mainstream potato chips that we grew up with, but this is not necessarily true.
Tempeh itself is a traditional Indonesian food made from fermented whole soybeans - 100g of tempeh provides about 20g of protein, alongside being packed naturally with fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Studies suggest that food made with soy, including tempeh, may offer benefits to the gut microbiota, weight loss, lower cholesterol and stress levels when consumed moderately as part of a balanced diet.
When tempeh is turned into chips, some of these nutritional benefits are maintained, containing generally more protein and fiber than potato chips, potentially making them ‘healthier’, more filling and still providing more benefits compared to consuming potato chips.
However, many tempeh chips are deep-fried, which can cause them to absorb significant amounts of oil, leading to higher fat when levels consumed. Some products may also contain high levels of sodium, whereby excessive consumption of fried and salty snacks (regardless of the key ingredient it's made out of) can contribute to weight gain and elevated blood pressure over time.
Therefore, tempeh chips is technically a ‘healthier’ option, but should just be generally seen as a better-for-you snack rather than an active food to enhance health. It can still be something we eat for fun in moderation, as we generally know that excessive amounts of anything will eventually bring us adverse effects.
The conclusion is - tempeh chips are ‘healthier, but not necessarily healthy.
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C Chai (crystal.chaijeecheng@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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